World News Quick Take

Agencies

CHINA

Three Tibetans self-immolate

Three Tibetans have died after setting themselves on fire to protest Beijing’s rule in Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province, exiled Buddhist monks and reports said yesterday. Two of the three were monks at a monastery in Ruoergai County, according to the exiled monks and the Free Tibet group. The two monks, aged 20 and 23, set themselves on fire in a corner of an assembly hall of the Taktsang Lhamo Kirti monastery, the reports said. US broadcaster Radio Free Asia reported that a 23-year-old Tibetan woman in Rangtang County died after self-immolating on Wednesday.

INDIA

Man sells baby on Facebook

Police in Ludhiana, Punjab state, said on Wednesday they had arrested a 47-year-old man for selling his newborn grandson to a businessman in a deal that was struck on Facebook. Feroz Khan allegedly kidnapped his grandson shortly after he was born this month. He sought help from two temporary employees at the hospital where his daughter gave birth, who contacted the buyer on Facebook and arranged the deal for 45,000 rupees (US$830). Police have rescued the baby and returned him to his mother, Noori Khan, a divorcee, who had lodged the complaint against her father.

PAKISTAN

Burglar’s arms cut off

A suspected burglar who crept into a village home to steal was caught red-handed and had both arms severed at the elbow by his would-be victims, police said on Wednesday. Muhammad Tufail, 34, entered a house in Chak Nangar village near the town of Dera Ghazi Khan, local police official Muhammad Ayub said. “The four male family members present in the house severed both Tufail’s arms at the elbow,” Ayub said. Police have arrested two of the accused and the two others have fled, he said. Tufail was taken to a hospital and is in a stable condition, Ayub said.

SINGAPORE

Cartoonist arrested

Cartoonist Leslie Chew, 37, has been arrested for alleged sedition over a satirical comic strip on his Facebook page that appeared to accuse the government of racism, his lawyer said on Wednesday. Chew was released on bail following his arrest on Friday, two days after a complaint was filed about his cartoon strip that lampooned the government for being “racist” toward Malays, lawyer Choo Zheng Xi said. The strip was posted on Chew’s “Demon-cratic Singapore” Facebook page on March 27. “He was released on S$10,000 [US$8,060] bail on Sunday night, and is currently being investigated under the Sedition Act,” Choo said. If convicted, Chew faces a jail term of up to three years or a fine of up to S$5,000 or both.

INDIA

Shamshad Begum dies

Legendary singer Shamshad Begum died at age 94 on Tuesday in Mumbai. She had been unwell for some time, her daughter Usha Ratra told the Press Trust of India news agency on Wednesday. Begum’s funeral, held early on Wednesday, was attended by close family members and a few friends, Ratra said. She began her singing career on radio in 1947, and became one of the movie industry’s first playback singers, with several well-known actresses of her time lip-syncing to her songs. Her songs from the 1950s to the early 1970s are still popular and continue to be remixed by music directors today.

FRANCE

Two charged over Kate pics

The head of an Italian publishing group and a French photographer were charged this month over the publication of intimate photographs of Prince William’s wife, Catherine, sunbathing topless in Provence that sparked a furor. Sources close to the case said Mondadori Group chief executive Ernesto Mauri and a photographer at daily La Provence were both charged with “invasion of privacy.” Judges in the Paris suburb of Nanterre charged Mauri for allowing the topless shots to be published in Closer on Sept. 14. The identity of the paparazzi who took the photographs remains a mystery. Meanwhile, photographer Valerie Suau was charged for taking photos of Kate in a swimsuit in the same place, which were printed in La Provence on Sept. 7.